Escalating Project Issues

Overview

A stage should not go outside the tolerances agreed with the Project Board.

The Project Manager should always present a recommendation when escalating Project Issues.

Context

This can be advance warning to the Project Board of a deviation before presentation of an Exception Plan. The Project Manager can only take corrective action or maintain the 'status quo' alone while the stage is forecast to stay within the tolerances set by the Project Board. Escalating Project Issues applies where any corrective action would take the stage or project beyond the tolerance margins.

The decision by the Project Board in response to the escalation may lead to the production of an Exception Plan, where cost and/or time targets are adjusted, or to the approval of a Non-Compliance where a quality waiver is required.

Process Description

One of the major Project Controls available to the Project Board is that they set tolerances for each stage. (Tolerance is fully described in the Project Controls chapter.) The Project Manager only has authority to proceed with a stage while it is forecast to stay within the tolerance margins. If the stage is forecast to go outside the tolerance margins (possibly as the result of a corrective action) the Project Manager must bring the situation to the attention of the Project Board.

One item likely to cause a deviation is a Project Issue. Project Issues are fully described in the chapter on Change Control. There may be one or more Project Issues, the implementation of which would take the stage (and possibly the entire project) beyond the agreed tolerances. The decision on which (if any) changes to approve for the Project Board must take action.

Other causes may be poor estimation, a change in resource availability, resources under- or over-performing, unplanned tasks, tasks not needed and re-work.

In order to retain the Project Board's overall control, the following steps are taken:

Where an exception situation has been identified, an Exception Plan has to be devised which either recovers a situation that is outside tolerance or proposes a new plan with a new target cost and time, plus new tolerances around that target.

The Project Board's advice should be sought before devising the Exception Plan. All current constraints should be investigated with the Board to see if they still stand in the light of the new situation. The Project Manager will advise the Project Board of the impact of the deviation on the Project Plan, Business Case and risks. Various options should be identified and a course of action recommended to the Project Board. An Exception Plan should be prepared in line with the recommended actions. The Exception Plan replaces the remainder of the current Stage Plan.

The parts of a plan that can be varied in response to an exception situation are:

Speed is an important factor in notifying the Project Board of an exception situation. Some of the above steps can be done in Exception Planning.

It will often be necessary to revise the Project Plan as described in Updating a Project Plan.

Responsibilities

The Project Manager is responsible for escalating Project Issues. Those with project assurance responsibilities should also be monitoring any situations that could cause a deviation, and should bring the matter to the Project Manager's attention.

Information Needs

Key Criteria